Bas Wiegers — Principal Guest Conductor from September 1, 2018

Bas Wiegers has distinguished himself with his charisma, openness and undogmatic approach at the helm of leading European orchestras and soloist ensembles. The conductor has a detailed approach to his work, which draws on his long experience as a violinist and a wide-ranging knowledge of repertoire stretching from Baroque to contemporary music.

In the Netherlands, Bas Wiegers has worked with ensembles including the Residentie Orkest, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and, together with Peter Eötvös, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Additionally, he has made guest appearances with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Neue Vokalsolisten Stuttgart and at festivals such as Wien Modern, Holland Festival, November Music, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, London Almeida Festival, Aldeburgh Festival and Acht Brücken in Cologne.

As an opera conductor, Bas Wiegers has led Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Britten’s Noyes Fludde, Kyriakides’ An Ocean of Rain as well as Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias and La Voix Humaine. In 2017 he led the premiere of Helmut Oehring’s KUNST MUSS (zu weit gehen) oder DER ENGEL SCHWIEG at the Cologne Opera.

The 2018/19 season will start in a classical vein with a guest appearance leading the South Netherlands Philharmonic at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw as part of the Robeco Summer Concerts, before leading the premiere of the revised version of Georg Friedrich Haas’ successful opera KOMA at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt. In the rest of the season, he will return to lead the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern.​

He maintains a particularly close relationship with the Klangforum Wien, which he will lead at the Munich Biennale in June 2018 in a new music theatre work by Stefan Prins, before making appearances at the Holland Festival, Bozar Brussels and Kampnagel in Hamburg. Bas Wiegers is also a treasured musical partner for composers such as Louis Andriessen, George Benjamin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Mark Andre, Pierluigi Billone, Helmut Lachenmann and Rebecca Saunders.

Following his musical education in Amsterdam and Freiburg, Bas Wiegers started a successful career as a violinist with an emphasis on early music. In 2009 he was awarded a conducting scholarship from the Kersjes Foundation, and later worked as an assistant to Mariss Jansons and Susanna Mälkki at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which convinced him to completely concentrate on conducting. —Karsten Witt Musik Management, 2018